Beauty and her prince
by Megzthewriter
Summary: Arthur had said when he was younger that he would marry her when he was older. When her crazy brother takes over the kingdom and kills her father the princess flees to Camelot, she becomes the second ward of Uther. What is her destiny? To become queen of course but she will face many challenges along with Merlin, Arthur and the rest of the gang. Arthur/OC, Maybe Merlin/Gwen
1. Prologue

**Beauty and her prince**

**Prologue:**

Uther Pendragon was woken by loud banging on his chambers doors, irrated he promised to himself whoever it was that had woken him better have a good reason.

"ENTER!" he said loudly, hoping the person behind the door was shaking in fear. The door opened to reveal one of the many knights of Camelot.

"My lord, there is an emergency. A knight from the kingdom Dubois arrived, bringing the princess with him."

Uther quickly put on a robe and to the great hall, knowing the princess would be there, when he entered he stopped, she had changed so much since he last saw her only 2 years ago. It was known through out many lands that she was a beauty none could be compared to. Her bright grass green eyes met his, "Uther..." she whispered softly before fainting, Uther noticed the Dubois knight catch her. "Follow me." he told him and brought him to Gaius.

Gaius immediately jumped out of bed and told them to set her on it, he checked her over. Looking for any signs of injury.

"Is she alright?" Uther asked him. Gaius shook his head and replied "She probably fainted of exhaustion." Gaius saw the knight in blue sway slightly where he stood and ordered him to sit down.

"Tell me what happened!" Uther demanded the knight.

"Prince Adrian killed the king and put the rest of the knights under an enchantment." Uther gasped in surprise, his closest friend, King David had been murdered by his own son who is a sorcerer.

"How did you escape?" Uther demanded the young knight.

"Whatever he used to enchant them was in the wine. I wasn't drinking, I had been assigned to watch over the princess. After Prince Adrian stabbed the king and left I rushed over to aid him. He told me to bring the princess here to you. He said you would keep her safe, that you once promised to."

Uther nodded, recalling that when the princess had been born he had promised David he would look after her should anything ever happen to him.

"Camelot thanks you and congratulates your bravery. To show you my gratitude you may become a citizen and reside in Camelot. Camelot needs more noble knights like yourself."

"It would be an honor my lord to stay where ever my princess is." the young knight said, bowing his head. Uther nodded before turning to the beauty on the bed, he turned to Gaius "I'll have someone come to carry her to her chambers." before leaving.

Arthur arrived home early in the morning from his hunting trip, he sensed something was not right.

He walked towards the throne room in search of his father, he found him sitting on his throne in deep thought.

"Hello father." he said getting the kings attention. Uther quickly looked up, "Ah your back. How was your trip?"

"Good. Is something wrong?" he asked looking around.

"The Dubois kingdom has been attacked." Arthur felt himself freeze in fear and feared his heart would stop beating at any second. Uther noticed his son's face.

"The princess was escorted here in the middle of the night. She was saved by one of the knights."

Arther immediately relaxed, he would have to thank this knight later.

"Who attacked the kingdom?" Arthur asked.

"Prince Adrian killed his father and took control of the knights using an enchantment he had put in the wine. Thankfully the knight who had been guarding the princess had not been drinking. I fear what would have happened to her if he had."

"Is she alright? Was she hurt?" Arthur asked his father, who shook his head "She collapsed from exhaustion but that is probably because they never stopped to rest until they reached the safety of Camelot."

Arthur sighed with relief.

"Go clean yourself and join me here for lunch. I'm sure the princess will be joining us." Uther told his son, who rushed out the door. Watching his son he chuckled, it was obvious his childhood love still remained.

The king and Prince were both eating when the doors opened to reveal a beauty in a silk and satin pink dress, it clung to her body and made her look like the princess she was. Her long pale golden blonde hair flowing down to her waist in curls, framing her flawless paled skinned face and bright grass green eyes filled with sadness. Both men stood, Uther walked towards her and opened his arms she immediately jumped into them and cried. Uther tried to soothe her, he had always admired and cared for the girl since she was born. She had always been smiling and seemed to always be happy. She had been stubborn and always said what she thought even to him which when she was a child he always found very amusing but she was also always kind and never selfish.

Uther pulled her back and wiped her tears away.

"Forgive me." she muttered. Uther smiled and gently put a hand on her cheek, "There is nothing to forgive my child. From this day on you may always come to me, I promised your father I would take care of you if anything were to happen to him. From this day on princess Lydia you are my ward." he finished by softly kissing her on the forehead.


	2. Chapter 1

**Beauty and her prince**

**Chapter 1:**

Nearly 2 months had passed and much to the king and prince of Camelot's joy she was turning back in to her old self.

Uther enjoyed talking with the young woman, not only was she well educated but loved to read and always had her own opinon on everything and was never afraid to make her opinion known.

He always enjoyed watching his son act like a teenager around the young woman who was clueless to his feelings.

Arthur was walking around thd castle, searching for Lydia. He did not wish for her to stumble or glance outside and see the sight of a beheading. He saw her in a beautiful lilac dress, once she had settled in Uther had called for the best dress maker in the lands to come make a wardrobe for her. When Morgana had found out she had kicked up a fuss about how the dresses were far better than hers only to be silenced when Uther told her that Lydia was a princess, she is only used to the finest and most beautiful things.

"Lydia!" he called out. She stopped and turned around, smiling at him nearly making his heart stop.

"Hello Arthur." she greeted him, Arthur smiled as he remembered the first time he had seen those beautiful grass green eyes.

_Arthur who had just turned 5 was hiding from the maids in the castle, he had wanted to see the amazing and brave knights of Camelot. As he was sneaking past the throne room, some one grabbed him and swung him around in the air as he squealed in delight. _

_When he was set down he noticed it was King David, a close friend of his fathers. King David was a tall and handsome man with blonde hair and dark blue eyes. _

"_He's gotten big. He's going to make a great king one day." King David said and messed up Arthur's hair. Uther smiled proudly and nodded "How is your son?" he asked._

"_Strange and oddly quiet to tell you the truth." David admitted._

"_David!" a woman scolded in a strange accent. Arthur looked over at the woman, she was obviously a queen, she was very pretty with long black hair and grass green eyes._

"_Pardon mon amour." _

"_maman." a tiny voice said behind the woman, Arthur tried to get a look but could not see. _

"_Uther my dear friend! You haven't seen my beautiful daughter since the day she was born! Come meet her!" David said as he picked up a young girl no older than 2 from behind her mother and put her in front of Uther and Arthur. She was beautiful. Her pale blonde hair reached her shoulders in curls and her big green grass eyes the same color as her mothers. _

"_What a beauty." Uther told his friend, who grinned widely "I know she gets it all from me." when he saw the death glare of his wife he quickly added "But of course much more from my beautiful wife." _

"_Can I marry her when I'm bigger?" a voice said immediately interrupting the laughing men, the both looked down at Arthur who the young princess was playing with his hair. The two kings looked at each other grinning while David's wife stood and knelled in front of the young prince._

"_Of course you may. But you must become a great knight and win her love." she told him. Arthur grinned happily._

"_I promise I will!" he replied before he turned to leave._

"_Where are you going?" Uther asked him. Arthur grinned at his father over his shoulder before replying "To become a great knight!" and then he ran off, hearing king David's voice from down the hall; "We might not need to make this an arranged marriage after all." _

"You do not wish to be outside. Come join me in the library." Arthur said, offering her his arm. She nodded, understanding what he meant and put her arm through his.

At the feast that night Arthur watched as his father happily talked with Lydia.

"Have you heard lady Helen sing?" he asked her, Lydia nodded. "I took lessons with her but she declared that I did not need them."

"I forgot, you to have a voice of an angel." Uther told her. Lydia blushed "That is very sweet my lord."

"I have not heard you sing before." Arthur said, joining the conversation.

"She is very shy about her voice. She sang for me 2 years ago." Uther told him. Arthur cursed silently, he had missed that visit. Her and her father showed up unannounced as they usually did while he was away for 2 weeks, training with the knights.

Uther looked around and just noticed that Morgana was not attending, he excused himself and went in search of her.

"Maybe you will sing for me one day." Arthur said hopefully. Lydia smiled gently and replied blushing, "Maybe"

Arthur grinned as they talked about random stuff, she later excused herself as she saw most starting to get drunk.

The next day, Lydia stood with Gwen as they both watched a tall, dark haired man stand up to Arthur.

"He's very brave." Gwen commented to her new friend who nodded in agreement "Also stupid but cute." Gwen blushed as they both started to giggle but stopped when the dark haired man threw a punch at Arthur who blocked it immediately and gripped his arm from the back.

"Diffidently stupid." Lydia said as she watched two guards drag the dark haired man of.

The next day as Gwen dressed Lydia in a beautiful light blue dress, they were both chatting and getting to know each other.

"Let's go for a walk." Lydia told Gwen when she had asked her what she wished to do after breakfast.

After breakfast when the King and Morgana, Lydia joined Gwen in front of the castle not noticing the looks of admiration she got from everyone. Gwen however noticed and tried her best not to blush.

They past the stocks were the young dark haired man was and waited for the children to finish throwing the rotten vegetables before making their way over to him.

Merlin noticed the dark haired and blonde haired beauties making way towards him, he could tell from their clothing that the dark haired woman was obviously a maid and that she was the blonde woman's maid but also friend.

"Hello I'm Lydia and this is my dear friend Guinevere." the stunning blonde woman introduced herself and her friend.

"Most people call me Gwen." the dark haired woman added, smiling.

"I'm Merlin." he introduced himself, trying to hold out his hand. Both girls smiled and each took their turn to shake it.

"But most people just call me idiot." he added.

"No!" Gwen said quickly and blushed. Lydia smiled gently at her friend and continued, "We saw what you did. You were so brave."

"It was stupid." Merlin said quietly. Lydia nodded in agreement.

"Well I'm glad you walked away. You weren't going to beat him." Gwen told Merlin. Lydia chuckled quietly behind her hand and tried not to burst out laughing at Merlin's expression.

"Oh I could beat him." Merlin defended himself.

"You think? Because you don't look like one of those big muscly kind of fellows." Gwen went on.

"Thanks." Merlin said grimly.

"No! I'm sure your stronger than you look!" Gwen said quickly. Lydia couldn't help but chuckle at Gwen getting all flustered.

"What my dear friend is trying to say that while you may be strong, Arthur is a trained knight of Camelot." Lydia quickly interrupted. Gwen sent her a thankful look.

"It's great you stood up to him." Lydia added and Gwen nodded in agreement.

"Wait you think so?" Merlin asked, beaming.

"Arthur's a bully and everyone thought you were a real hero." Gwen said, smiling. When Merlin looked over at Lydia for conformation she smiled and nodded as well.

"Oh excuse me Guinevere and Lydia my fans are waiting." he told them as he saw the children running towards him with their baskets filled with things to throw at him. He saw them smile and bow at Lydia and smiled at all of them. When they saw the two woman were far enough away to not be hit they started throwing things at him.

After lunchtime Arthur asked if Lydia would like to join him and some of his friends on a walk around Camelot. She accepted and as they were walking they were chatting and joking.

"I met Merlin this morning when he was in the stocks." she told him. Arthur didn't say anything, not sure what she was going to say.

"He's a lovely boy, very funny." she told him. Arthur felt a stab of jealousy pass through him.

"Very funny." Arthur said quickly before changing subject. "I was wondering if you will accompany me to the feast tomorrow night." he asked her, looking forward and never at her. Lydia smiled and replied "I'd love to."

Arthur beamed down at her, "Really? I mean great!" he said and blushed. One of Arthur's friends nudged him and pointed at Merlin.

"How's your knee walking coming along?" he asked him, but Merlin just ignored him. Arthur turned to look and see if Lydia was impressed but she just remained emotionless.

"Ah don't run away!" Arthur said loudly, proud to see the boy wasn't being ignorant anymore.

"From you?" Merlin demanded. Arthur heard Lydia giggle slightly and it annoyed him that this man was making him look like a fool in front of her.

"Thank god. I thought you were deaf as well as dumb."

"Look I told you, you were an ass. I just didn't realize you were a royal one." Merlin said turning around, he then just noticed Lydia who was standing beside Arthur looking as beautiful as she did that morning.

"Lydia!" he said happily and smiled. Lydia smiled back at him. Arthur looked between both at them quickly.

"You may not address princess Lydia that way!" Arthur said angrily. Merlin looked in between Arthur and Lydia with wide eyes before looking just at Lydia.

"Are you married to him?" he asked. Lydia broke out in to a fit of giggles while Arthur went bright red.

"No." she quickly said, trying to stop laughing.

"I was about to say. I didn't think he was your type, Lydia." Merlin said, when he saw Arthur glaring at him he made a 'oh' sound before asking "What are you going to do? Got your daddy's men to protect you."

Arthur laughed "I could take you apart with one blow."

"I could take you apart with less than that." Merlin told him.

"You sure?" Arthur asked as Merlin removed his jacket.

"Stop this. This is childish and silly." Lydia told them.

"Here you go big man." Arthur said, throwing Merlin a weapon. Knowing they were ignoring her she quickly said "Someone could get hurt!"

As they began fighting Lydia shouted at them to stop but they never did. She huffed in annoyance but watched as the two over grown children fought. She made her way back to the castle not bothering to see the outcome.

Arthur was with his friends as he waited for Lydia, he saw all his friends stare at Morgana, yes she was beautiful in her dress, showing her bare shoulders. But all the attention of the men immediately shifted when Lydia entered the room. Morgana wanted to rip her hair out in fury, while her own dress was slightly risky. Lydia's dress was more than that and stood out from all the red and cream dresses. Her dress was emerald green, it clung to her every curve and was completely backless. At the top it was held by a silver necklace and on the dress itself was silver design of roses. Her hair was up in a pile on the top of her head where a small silver tiara rested.

"God have mercy." Arthur said to his friends as they all stared at her. Arthur quickly walked towards her and offered her his arm, noticing the looks of jealousy from everyone.

"She looks great doesn't she?" Gwen asked Merlin as she appeared beside him.

"Yeah." he nodded.

"Well she is a princess, she was born to be queen." Gwen told him. Merlin recalled then that Lydia was a princess.

"She's the princess Lydia of Dubois isn't she? The most beautiful of all." Gwen nodded.

"You can tell that Arthur likes her. I hope that one day they do marry. Not that I want to be her. Who'd want to marry Arthur?"

"Oh come on Gwen. I thought you liked those rough tough save the world kind of men." Merlin teased.

"No I like much more ordinary men like you." she flirted.

"Gwen believe me I'm not ordinary."

"No! I didn't mean you!" Gwen said quickly before carrying on, "Obviously. Not you. But you know I like much more ordinary men. Like you."

"Thanks." Merlin said quickly.

"You look beautiful tonight." Arthur told her, blushing. She smiled at him "Thank you. You look very handsome."

"I'll tell you a little secret." Lydia said to Arthur and stood closer before speaking lowly, "I only wore this dress because I heard of what Morgana was wearing. I felt like annoying her."

Arthur couldn't help but laugh as Lydia giggled, mischief sparkling in her eyes.

They continued to chat until the horns were blown indicating the arrival of the king. Arthur escorted Lydia to the seat beside him.

Uther entered and gave his speech but Arthur could only keep his attention on Lydia. He was only broke out of his trance by the clapping in the room and sat down. He started to feel tired as he listened to Lady Helen sing. Before he knew it he had fallen asleep.

He awoken confused with spiderwebs all around him, he stood and saw in the place of Lady Helen there was an old woman under the chandelier. She pushed herself up and threw a dagger right at him. He couldn't move, he was frozen in place and then suddenly he hit the ground. He was pulled up to his feet as he watched the old lady die. He looked beside him to thank who ever had saved him but stopped when he saw it was Merlin.

"You saved my boys life." Uther said to Merlin, but Arthur could only continue to stare at Merlin. Why had he done that?

"A debt must be repaid." Uther went on.

"Oh well." Merlin trailed of, fidgeting.

"Don't be so modest." Uther told him, "You shall be rewarded."

"Honestly you don't have to your highness." Merlin said quietly

"No! Absolutely. This merits something quite special. You shall be rewarded a position in the royal household. You shall be prince Arthur's manservant!"

"Father!" Arthur cried, outraged but wasn't heard over the clapping. He turned around to see Lydia clapping and trying to stop herself from giggling. He saw her cringe as she tried to remove some spiderwebs.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, she nodded before whispering "I have a terrible fear of spiders."

Arthur quickly helped her remove the rest of the spiderwebs from her hair, loving the feeling of her soft silky hair.


End file.
